“SportsCenter,” launched in 1979 as the flagship show on the new cabler ESPN, is now a cornerstone of the sports station but has become part of pop culture as generations of Americans turn to the show to get updated on scores, highlights and news. Its “This Is SportsCenter” commercials are classics, and much copied — the Atlanta Falcons even paid tribute to them in their 2026 schedule announcement video.
Fans wanting to get behind the scenes of the show can tune into “This Was SportsCenter: Stories from the Set,” a video podcast set to debut June 5 across Disney+, ESPN App and major podcast platforms.
Hosted and produced by Rich Eisen, the first season gets behind the scenes of the “SportsCenter” set and newsroom during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The six-episode series features firsthand stories and memories from the journalists and personalities that made the show a must-watch.
The series is part of Disney+’s “Throwback Summer” campaign, with new episodes premiering every Friday across Disney+, ESPN App for ESPN Unlimited and ESPN Select plan subscribers, and all major podcast services.
The inaugural episode features Dan Patrick, who relates that in 1989, when he was at CNN, but “I knew ESPN was where I wanted to be.” He left CNN and just cold-called exec John Walsh at ESPN (“the godfather of ‘SportsCenter’”) on a Friday and started there on Tuesday — it was still the Wild West on cable news. He talks about the generosity of “SportsCenter” legend Chris Berman and other gems about his time there.
